I think it's wrong of you to decide that Evan was abused by men before when she has no said so herself. |
I want to be clear, I'm not saying she deserved to be abused because she ignored the red flags. But a lot of times in these discussions people get caught up in the ideal, yes ideally bad people who would harm you would not exist. But they do, so I think we fail people in particular women and girls when we glamorize toxic relationships or act like red flags exist. I guess for lack of better analogy, no one would blame a child for being kidnaped, but we would be failures as parents if we didn't teach our kids that not everyone is their friend and that they can't just go off with anyone. |
IT’S NOT VICTIM BLAMING!!!!! I have enormous sympathy for her. But DAMN, let’s use good judgment and instincts ladies! |
Well, she was a teenager, and she alleges that he groomed her. That could mean months or years of trying to overcome any instinctual caution she might have felt toward him. |
Where were her parents? This is horrible |
There was a lot of press at the time fawning all over him for basically being the polar opposite of his persona in real life. A really calm, thoughtful, intelligent, and even shy guy who loved puppies and kittens and was the height of non-threatening. I think Dita originally put a lot of that narrative out there when they were together, but it was definitely a thing. He is actually pretty intelligent and well spoken but quiet in interviews. I can see that narrative making you question yourself, especially at 18. |
I wonder if Dita found out he was grooming/being inappropriate with Evan Rachel Wood? They started dating right after his divorce and Dita is quoted as saying something very bad happened for her to pack up all her belongings and move out on Christmas Eve. |
That is what other posters are trying to say when they refer to the cycle of abuse. When you've been abused/groomed throughout childhood, you're not able to reconize what are seemingly obvious red flags bc abusive behaviors have been normalized. In fact, abusers might feel familiar and therefore safe to you bc it's what you are used to. It often takes years of experience and therapy to unpack why we do what we do and to recognize our own patterns. As someone who had an emotionally abusive/dysfunctional childhood, I can absolutely see the way those experiences impacted my choices. I too chose older men who I can now see were predators. I didn't have the tools to realize this at the time. |
I think that is highly likely. |
You're focusing on is his stage persona which he used to get famous and sell his music. As you mentioned, rapists come in all kinds of packages, so let's not focus on what he's wearing. #notallgoths |
I remember that. I remember thinking he was creepy AF, and couldn't believe anyone would listen to his stuff, but I remember a real narrative that it was "art" and that he was actuall a really intelligent, kind guy who was making some sort of point about .... I do not even know -- it never made sense to me. I feel like there are a couple of dangerous narratives going around. One is that it is "art" to elevate things that are just really gross; and two that there is no such thing as a bad kink -- that it's all okay so long as its consensual. I think the latter leads to young women feeling like they are prudish if they think something is gross or creepy, so they try to be okay with stuff they are not okay with. I stopped reading the Slate advice colum because there were so many questions and answers that I felt were normalizing weird fetishes. I'm not saying we should penalize that stuff (assuming its consensual), but I think it's dangerous to normalize things like BDSM and other kinks. |
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I commented up thread, but just want to add what a sick f’er he is, and I’m proud of her for coming forward and going public. It’s nice to see he was dropped from his label.
👏👏 |
But why was she hanging around him in the first place? It’s not like he was a normal guy. A weird celebrity but a celebrity nonetheless paid attention to her, so she saw an opportunity to advance her career or party on his dime. She took a big risk given what the world knew about him. |
You must have grown up pretty sheltered if you thought a) he was all that weird and b) don't have any friends who were charmed by creepy older guys as teens (and those guys didn't even have any power/fame/money). She was already an actress and on the Hollywood scene. And 18 year olds are pretty well known for not listening to advice because "he said I'm different from all the other girls". Once upon a time I was a little goth kid and you would never know in a million years unless I told you. Nowadays I'm a CPA and a boring married mom in the burbs. And so are all my old goth friends. Manson was actually considered "goth lite" - being a "Mansonite goth" was like being a poseur.
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When you are young your instincts and judgements are less matured and your perception of dangerous behavior not as evolved as an adult. This isn’t just lack of experience, it’s biological and a reflection of brain and emotional development. Moreover, people like Manson, who groomed Wood from a young age, intentionally desensitize their victims to inappropriate and/or dangerous acts; it’s the entire point of grooming and how they prey on and ultimately exploit their victims. Lastly, in Hollywood, where children are adultified and sexualized, predatory behavior is - or has been historically - normalized. All of which is to day, you ARE victim blaming. And you are substantiating it by using terms like “good judgement” that negate that young victims of rape, abuse, and assault are often deprived through grooming, lack of appropriate boundaries of adults around them, lack of supervision of truly caring, responsible adults, and sheer youth to detect what is assault versus affection, rape versus consensual sex, and “normal” versus inappropriate behavior. Please stop. |